Our Lawyers

A law firm’s value is wholly created by its legal experts’ ability to provide quality legal services. We are firmly committed to hiring, retaining and training the best attorneys in our market, so that our clients receive superior legal services. In order to accomplish this goal, we work hard to hire the best legal talent and have developed programs and opportunities for our attorneys that foster and reward each individual’s growth as a legal expert and integral part of our firm. Our Associates are offered a combination of training, feedback, incentives and career advancement opportunities that allow all persons who have a desire to advance their career to achieve their goals.

We find that providing high-quality training and mentoring, along with implementing industry leading policies with respect to compensation, benefits and work/life balance fulfills our primary goals of hiring and retaining outstanding attorneys who provide superior legal services while satisfying their desire to grow in their practice.

Associate Training

We are committed to training and development, as it is essential to our mission of providing superior legal services and advancing the individual careers of our attorneys. To that end, we have implemented a number of training programs and initiatives. The goals of the training and mentoring programs are to improve each of our Associate’s skills as writer, advisor, counselor and advocate, and to demonstrate how an experienced attorney successfully interacts with clients. We want our Associates to grow and take on new challenges quickly, and we offer all of the support necessary to do so. Our formal training programs include the following:

• In June 2009, Frost Brown Todd announced a new program for our first-year associates.  We are offering an innovative approach to hiring and training new associates, which, we believe, will make them better attorneys.  Click here to learn about the five basic components of our First Year Associate Program.
  
  
• Each of our Departments has an ongoing training plan designed to promote expertise and increase substantive knowledge. These plans include regular department meetings and in-office seminars, where our Members and Associates have an opportunity to discuss developments in the law, make new contacts and learn from experts within our firm.
  
  
• “Lunch and Learn” programs on firm operations and basic lawyering skills occur monthly to provide our Associates with the tools needed to feel confident in core skills needed to be a legal expert, whether that be drafting, research, public speaking or negotiations. The Lunch and Learn programs are targeted to specific classes of Associates.
  
  
• We hire outside professional speakers to present curricula beneficial to all practice areas (e.g., legal writing taught by Judge Mark Painter, a sitting Ohio Appellate jurist who is nationally recognized for his legal writing skills workshops).
  
  
• Two formal mentors (a Senior Associate and Member) are available to each Associate to advise, motivate and teach.
  
  
• We encourage and support continuing legal education through a substantial biannual CLE budget that allows each attorney to go to the best national and regional conferences to network and hone their legal skills with industry leaders.

Mentor Program

The attorney mentoring program focuses on helping new Associates quickly become integrated into the firm and their individual practice. New Associates are assigned two mentors, an Associate and a senior attorney. Assigned mentors fill the following roles:

• Host: Welcome new lawyers to the firm and introduce them to legal professionals within their department and throughout the firm and our communities;
  
  
• Bridge: Act as a link to the firm for work, support and administrative information;
  
  
• Guide: Explain firm political issues and unwritten rules of “how we do it here”;
  
  
• Teach: Develop protégé’s legal and practice skills;
  
  
• Coach: Provide feedback, monitor performance and experience, give “stretch” assignments; and
  
  
• Facilitate: Connect protégé with internal resources to address particular issues that may face protégé and help them network outside our offices in the community.

The Executive Committee, Department Chairs and Practice Group Leaders strongly support the program and continue to work to build consensus within the firm about the importance of mentoring. Associates and Members alike are recognized for providing meaningful assistance to the development of junior lawyers.

We also have an informal monthly lunch program where two Associates are matched randomly with two senior attorneys in each office. This informal mentoring supplements the formal program very well and provides an opportunity for internal networking and cross-selling.

Career Development Coach

The private practice of law is challenging in many respects, but it is also rewarding if you can find the niche that best fits your goals, ambitions and unique skill set. Every lawyer has the opportunity to chart a path toward success as they define “success.” We recognize that charting that course can be difficult. It is helpful to have a guide, or a “coach,” to assist in the process.

Todd Bailey joined the firm in 1976, became a Member and has accumulated a broad range of experience through his years in traditional and non-traditional career paths inside and outside of the firm. Todd is a popular business professor at a large university where he regularly is engaging with students many of whom will join our profession in the coming years. Todd’s wealth of experience and teaching skills make him a great resource for Associates struggling with their own practice decisions. The firm has asked Todd to spend a large part of his time dedicated to assisting our lawyers who request assistance in planning the development of their own path to growth and success in the profession. This career coaching is a unique and invaluable benefit for our Associates.

Performance Reviews

To help everyone meet the goals of becoming legal experts and building each individual’s practice, our Associates take part in a formal evaluation process each year. In this way, Associates receive feedback on work and development. Associates also have an opportunity to comment on experiences with colleagues and clients in these evaluation meetings.

Senior Associates are asked to complete, and review with their Practice Group Leader, a self-evaluation form each year so that the Senior Associate and the firm have a clear understanding of where each Senior Associate’s career is headed and the firm can provide the support and guidance to get them to their goal.

We use an “on-line” evaluation software program that streamlines the process for Associates and Members. This system allows Associates to specifically request an evaluation from a Member or Senior Associate they have worked with.

Compensation and Bonus Program

Our compensation package is highly competitive and designed to promote individual and firm success. Our Associates are given lock-step salary increases in what is generally their first three years of practice to maintain a modest spread among classes and individuals. We believe that during these critical years of practice, learning the trade is more important than any other aspect of practice and this lock-step approach is designed to encourage Associates to work together to build their expertise without being concerned with the performance of their peers. This is not a time for competition. After Associates are promoted to Senior Associate status, lock-step increases give way to much more flexible and significant increases in compensation for those who are performing exceptional work from a quality and profitability perspective.

Our bonus program has two components: objective bonuses that are tied to billable hours above budget and which start accruing at only 50 hours over budgeted hours, and subjective bonuses that are discretionary and based on a variety of factors other than the number of hours our Associates spend billing legal work. Both types of bonus can significantly increase an Associate’s compensation. We recognize that in some of our markets, our competitors have higher base starting salaries. They also have, in many cases, higher billable hour requirements. Our 1800 billable hour requirement is one of the lowest in the region and the country among major law firms. If you want to bill more hours to match the level that other firms require, we will pay you through our bonus system to closely match what others would pay as base salary. But here, that choice is yours.

Membership

We have a two-tiered Membership structure. An Associate who joins the firm upon graduation from law school may be first considered for Income Membership after the Associate's seventh anniversary with us. For example, an Associate who graduated from law school in 2000 and joined the firm on September 1, 2000, would first be eligible for election to Income Membership in the Fall of 2007 (and, if elected, would become an Income Member effective as of January 1, 2008).

An Associate who has legal or other work experience prior to joining the firm (i.e., a lateral Associate), will be placed in a class for Membership selection purposes as determined at the time of employment, taking into consideration all relevant facts and circumstances.

An Income Member may first be considered for Equity Membership two years after being elected to Income Membership.

Work/Life Balance

We understand that not every attorney is able to work a traditional schedule, and that it is important to accommodate each individual’s need for flexibility. This is not a gender issue as we have numerous men and women who are on flexible schedules. As a result we have offered structured alternative and reduced schedules to our attorneys for over 15 years. Individuals interested in alternative work schedules are offered a process for pursing such alternatives and in most cases are still eligible for Membership in the firm.

To assist individuals interested in such alternatives, we provide formal advisors whose role is to help the firm and each individual succeed and manage alternative schedules. This program is headed by Carla Rusconi, our Director of Attorney Advancement. Carla is a former corporate attorney who was on a flexible schedule as a Partner at the firm in the 1990s when these arrangements were unheard of in our profession. Carla no longer practices law and has focused all of her attention on personnel and career advancement issues. She is an invaluable resource to attorneys concerned about flexibility.

In addition, our billable hour requirement (1800 hours) is among the lowest in our market cities among our peer group. This fact, along with our alternative work schedule policy, and our very aggressive objective bonus policy enables us to attract and fairly compensate the best legal professionals regardless of their work/life balance needs.

Proving its commitment to work/life balance issues for our Associates, Frost Brown Todd listened to its attorneys. The firm recently conducted an anonymous survey open to all Associates, where the Associates were asked a variety of searching questions regarding the Associate’s working environment, attempting to identify where the firm might improve. The Associates’ input was instrumental in shaping the firm’s policy, including the balanced, but competitive, benefits structure in place today. As just one example, our Associates overwhelmingly indicated they did not want the firm to follow the trend of other law firms by reducing our matching 401(k) and profit sharing (which amount to significant deferred compensation) in exchange for a higher starting salary. We listened.

Giving Back

As a firm, and as individuals, we are citizens of the communities in which we practice. We feel that with success comes responsibility, and we take our civic responsibilities very seriously. In order to promote contributions to our communities, we allow up to 50 hours of pro bono work to be counted towards eligibility for an objective bonus each year. In addition, we strongly encourage volunteer activity of all types and permit volunteer time to count towards our non-billable, investment time requirements for each Associate.

Benefits

We offer competitive benefits for our Associates, including 401(k) plans with matching contributions from the firm and profit sharing components, a choice of comprehensive health, dental, vision, long term care and other insurance plans, generous vacation time and highly competitive salary.

Departments and Practice Groups

Associates are hired to work in specific departments and practice groups within the firm. Our size allows us to have a multitude of practice groups which is beneficial to our clients and to Associates. More information about our various practice groups and departments is available on this website.

Practicing in a Middle Market

Our firm has offices in markets that are growing and prospering, which provides Associates with a great opportunity to build their practice. We are proud to practice in the following cities: Cincinnati, Columbus and West Chester, Ohio; Louisville, Lexington and Florence, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Charleston, West Virginia. We feel there are no better markets in which to practice law in the Midwest. Please review a presentation about the advantages of practicing law in a mid-size market by clicking here.

How to Apply

Please APPLY online or submit your resume, transcripts and cover letter indicating your department and geographical interests, via regular U.S. mail, fax or attach as a Microsoft Word document via email to Karen Laymance, Director of Attorney Recruitment & Development.